Bread and Matzoh
"Bread and Matzoh" is an episode from the first season of The Puzzle Place. It is included here because it has to do with the Jewish holiday called Passover. Plot In a subplot, hungry "pet" inhabitants Sizzle and Nuzzle, try to get some cat and dog food, respectively, from cans. For the real plot, Julie, Kiki, Ben, and Leon, watch a machine where metal balls at opposite ends hit each other. Skye brings over Apache fry bread. Jody is still not present. Leon remarks that it is kind of like pita bread, except that it is different. The kids that are present taste it, and they love it. In fact, they are curious about how it is made. Skye jokes that his grandfather takes some flour, uses his magic wand, and stands on his head, but before he can add any more steps, they are not impressed, so via Rebus, they learn about it from "Shedalla" (correct the spelling if anyone of you knows it more properly), who is Skye's grandfather. It is shown that he uses flour and water until it is at the right consistency in a big ball, and then forms that ball into smaller balls (less than the size of tennis balls), and fries it in oil when it's hot enough. Leon puts it like it is "fried like a dougnut, only in a pancake-y sort of way." Afterward, Ben mentions that when his mother makes bread, she puts the dough in a big pan and lets it sit in an oven, and asks Skye why his kind of bread is made in a frying pan. It is because of how the (White Mountain) Apaches had lived 100 years before: They built their homes with sticks and bear grass for the coverings, known as "wikiaps" (correct the spelling if necessary), and they moved, even crossing rivers, and had to carry everything, but a stove was too heavy, so they cooked over campfires instead. Frying pans, on the other hand, were easy to carry and could be used over campfires, so they cooked their bread like that, reminding Skye and his current people of who they were then, which is part of who they are nowadays. Skye mentions they also have another reason: "It's great!" Suddenly, Jody comes over with a basket of something, and the others try to get her to try some frybread (and hurry before it's all gone), but she comes up with excuses (including saying she'll do it in eight days) and just leaves. Skye is insulted. Meanwhile, worrying about this (while promising to feed Sizzle and Nuzzle, and deciding to get undented cans for it), Jody says her reason for not trying the frybread was a good one, and it had to do with what was in her basket. She leaves to get newer cans, much to Sizzle and Nuzzle's dismay over her "forgetting" to open the cans. Meanwhile, Skye admits he and Jody are good friends, but wonders why she won't try his fry bread, and he states his feelings being hurt. Meanwhile, Jody lines up potatoes on a counter, and Ben comes over, trying to persuade her to try a piece of frybread. He asks certain (authentic, real, human) kids about trying new things and how hard it is. He decides to try to make it easier. Jody says she will, in eight days. No matter how fewer days Ben tries to negotiate, Jody insists it has to be eight. Ben worries that the bread won't last that long. Ben reports this to Julie, Kiki, and Leon, but decides (upon one of the kids asking what they can do) that they could just eat it themselves. Kiki gets fed up and asks Jody permission to talk to her. Jody, aggravated, asks if it's about what she thinks it's about. Kiki says it is, and that Skye is really proud of his grandfather's frybread. Jody says he should be, so Kiki says to just try a little taste. Jody says she said she would in eight days. Kiki tries to persuade her to try a little right away, knowing she'll love it, and says Skye's feelings are so hurt. Jody worries about this, but says she has a good reason, and that if Skye knew why, he wouldn't be insulted. Kiki asks her why she didn't tell him why, and Jody says she just didn't want to hog all the attention away from him, and she decides to talk to Skye, and thanks her. Kiki, looking at the potatoes' arrangement, asks if it really means anything. Meanwhile, the three remaining kids are pondering about a problem with "just plain bread" (as Ben puts it), but Julie says bread is an enormous deal, as almost everyone everywhere in the world eats bread, and there are so many kinds. Vanesse Thomas sings about various breads over a photo montage that all has to do with bread. Julie says that's what friends do: share bread. Leon wishes Jody and Skye would do so. Julie asks where Jody is. Back at the greenhouse, Jody tries to talk to Skye, apologizing for if she hurt his feelings. Skye says it's okay if she doesn't like the frybread, but she could at least try it. Jody says she couldn't, and that was because it is Passover. Skye doesn't get it, but Jody explains that today is the first day of one of the biggest and most important Jewish holidays, but (upon Skye's questioning) it is not like Christmas, but completely different. She tells Skye a story about her ancestors, and the source of Passover... well, some of it, anyway: In the story, the Jewish slaves are in a hurry packing and leaving with their heroic leader, Moses, so they can't just let the bread dough rise before baking, so they bake it while it's still flat, and call it "matzah," meaning "bread that is flat." They then travel through the desert from one place to another for a long time afterward. Skye is amazed because both kids' ancestors lived by wandering from place to place, and they both have special breads because of that. Skye asks how they celebrate Passover. Jody tells him Passover is both serious and fun: they tell the story (which has more than Jody said) and think about the hardships in the life they had then, but they have a great time just being together. In another scene, a girl named Lauren talks about their seder. It starts with her grandfather saying a prayer in Hebrew. He then breaks off a piece of their unleavened bread, again called "matzah" (which she Lauren says tastes great), and she does her favorite part: reading the "Four Questions," which her Uncle Jack answers. The family sings old songs in Hebrew, and Lauren can't wait until the next Passover. Back to the Puzzle Place, Jody says Jewish families are celebrating at the same time worldwide, and tells Skye her reason for not even trying his frybread: once Passover begins, no bread can be consumed except matzah. Jody has them (particulary Skye and Ben) guess how long Passover lasts: eight days. Skye understands and says it's fine, but asks to try some of her matzah. Jody approves, saying that was the reason she brought the basket: so everyone could try some. As the other kids take a piece of matzah (some breaking a piece of others' hands), Jody sings a Hebrew blessing, and says the meaning. The kids love it, and Jody asks Skye if he'll save some frybread for her next time. He approves, and then they'll break bread together. The kids sing a reprise of the bread song. Back to Sizzle and Nuzzle, the latter takes a piece of matzah, while the former takes a piece of frybread. He says "cheers" to her, and she says the Jewish expression "l'chaim" to him, and they toast to it and eat it. Song "The Bread Song" sung in a photo montage by Hercules muse VA, Vaneesse Thomas; however, the kids reprise the bridge, hook, and chorus near the end. Goofs *Back in the time of the slavery in Egypt, there was no such thing as being "Jewish." The people there were known as "Hebrews" or "Israelites," meaning they were descendants of Jacob (aka Israel), who was the father of twelve tribes, including that of Judah, who was the source of Jews. Actually, it wasn't until after the death of King Solomon and the resulting division of his kingdom that there was such a thing: in the southern piece, two of the tribes lived there, and it was called the Kingdom of Judah, and those people were called Jews. *Additionally, Jody does not mention the reason for the name "Passover": the tenth and final plague was a serious, deadly sickness that would kill all of the firstborns of Egypt, including that of the Pharaoh (Egyptian king); however, Moses had his people kill a firstborn, perfectly healthy and spotless male lamb, and mark his blood on the Hebrews' houses' doors, and the illness would pass over those houses, and let those firstborns survive, but kill off any whose houses' doors weren't marked. *In fact, Jody never mentions any of the plagues. Category:Passover Category:Jewish holidays Category:1995 releases Category:Originally aired on PBS Category:Episodes